Five significant NBA stats in final stretch: Defense rules for Knicks, Donovan Mitchell’s pace, more

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Less than a month remains in the NBA regular season, and if this is when teams are supposed to round into form, then only a handful of them can feel particularly good about themselves. Between all the injuries (Minnesota, almost every relevant team in the East) and inconsistency (Dallas, Phoenix, Clippers, among others), it’s OK to be a bit confused about the state of things right now.

So let’s zoom out. Instead of trying to make sense of a hot or cold streak that might be meaningless, here are five stats that seem significant for the stretch run.

Donovan Mitchell, setting the pace

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ transition frequency has been 3.9% higher with Donovan Mitchell on the court than without him this season, according to Cleaning The Glass. This is a big number – LeBron James is the only player in the NBA who has increased his team’s transition frequency more (minimum 500 minutes). 

Why is this relevant? Because the Cavs were 19th in transition frequency (14.3%) last season and are 10th this season (15.4%), per CTG. Their tendency to walk the ball up the floor was far from the only reason they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, but it was an issue. And Mitchell was often the guy who was walking it up.

Cleveland made pace a priority in training camp, and this has paid off. According to CTG, only three teams have been better in transition (in terms of per-possession points added). Mitchell, one of the league’s best pick-and-roll players, is extremely comfortable in the halfcourt, but he deserves credit for pushing the ball more consistently.

It helps that, along with Mitchell and Darius Garland, numerous other shooters – Max Strus, Georges Niang, and especially Sam Merrill – are now actively looking to fire up 3s in transition. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers’ spacing will still be imperfect when they have two bigs on the floor, but it’ll be tougher for opponents to grind their offense to a halt.

The Pelicans, cornered

Corner 3s were not a strength of the 2022-23 New Orleans Pelicans. They ranked…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/five-significant-nba-stats-in-final-stretch-defense-rules-for-knicks-donovan-mitchells-pace-more/

Author : James Herbert

Publish date : 2024-03-21 18:18:52

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